There was also another "sneak preview" of episode 2 like they had for episode 1 on the first episode of "Inside The Race" the 15 minute show aired the day after online at the main website. The sneak preview showed the Hippies (Darren and Kristen, the BC team) arguing and being lost. I don't know how to get that here or anything like that so I can't help but just FYI.

I am posting this here because there is a bit of spoilers from leg 2 in it.

B.C. couple among those battling the elements in Amazing Race Canada

I think for most people who work in the downtown area of Vancouver it is an automatic impulse to eagerly dole out directions to anorak-wearing, backpack-toting cruise ship passengers who look slightly dazed and confused.

But on a sunny day back at the beginning of May I had to stifle my desire to direct when it came to a young couple frantically trying to figure out which way to head through Gastown.

The confused couple was not from the nearby Something or Other Princess; they were a pair of Amazing Race Canada contestants trying frantically to find their way to the next stop on the Vancouver leg of the new Canadian version of the show that began airing on CTV on July 15.

"I planned that," said Jim Quan, the CTV PR guy as he and I were walking through Gastown just as a frantic Kristen Idiens and Darren Trapp appeared out of the blue.

As it turned out, the pair who hail from Fairmont in the East Kootenay, were scrambling to make up time after a cab driver left them in the wrong place.

"He brought us to Water Street, not Waterfront Street, second bad cab ride of the day," said Idiens at the end of the Vancouver day.

"We were looking for DP World, and he didn't know what that was."

Um, for the record, I didn't know what that was until I spent a day on location with Amazing Race.

It turns out DP World is the Burrard Inlet port area that houses those giant orange cranes that are used to put containers on ships.

The team from Fairmont is one of nine two-member teams that made the grade for the first Canadian version of the wildly popular reality race show. The nine-time Emmy-winning show first hit U.S. TV screens back in 2001, and since then there have been 12 international versions and it is seen in 80 countries.

The Canadian host is Canadian Winter Olympic champion skeleton racer Jon Montgomery and the 13-episode show has the teams covering around 9,000 kilometres of Canada in a bid to win $500,000.

"Let me tell you, there is nothing boring about Canada," said the show's executive producer and Insight Productions CEO John Brunton, responding to the comparison between the international scope of the U.S. show and the Canadian show.

"We have plenty of exciting options, challenging options. It's a killer situation because there is an expectation that you are going to be iconic and on the other hand this country has changed so much in the last 15 years. It is very much a multicultural experience."

The day I spent on set was not unlike most TV production sets in that things play out like this: There's a flurry of hurry-up-something-isabout-to-happen to hours of standing around eyeing the craft services table (in this case the fridge was sporting a handwritten sign that said "don't put back half eaten bananas") and making small talk to a 20-something tattoo-covered, headset-wearing PA.

In this case the waiting took place just off to the side of the entrance to the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden in Chinatown. The square was abuzz with production people moving gear as well as moving locals out of the way as they explained to them that their morning Tai Chi was going to be replaced by a TV show.

Once in Chinatown the teams were given a choice between a memory/ calligraphy challenge or a traditional costumed lion dance, which involved a scavenger hunt of sorts through Chinatown.

"We are always racing to stay in front of the racers," said Brunton as we waited at the Chinatown location. "There are so many complications when it comes to running people through a city like Vancouver. From permits to getting people to agree to let us use their locations to the unpredictable nature of what the racers are going to do. You know, really anything can happen. So you need to be like elastic, stretching and shrinking, stretching and shrinking, non-stop."

From Chinatown, racers headed off to the DP World cranes before finishing the Vancouver leg at the Convention Centre.

"Sore, tired, but good," said Trapp after passing through the Pitt Stop. "It's so much fun. It's really challenging and really frustrating, there's lots of emotions, but that's life, right? It's cool to get past those frustrations and feel like we've worked hard."

"We have worked hard all the way through the frustrations and wanting to beat each other up a little bit," Idiens said. "We worked through it. We're still good, right?" she said, looking squarely at her partner in the show and life.

Trapp and Idiens are the only B.C entrants in the competition and on paper they look like the perfect pair to crack the Amazing Race code. They are young, super fit, resourceful adventure guides who are busy building a life off the grid.

"We kind of thrive on challenges," said Idiens. "I think the thing about sustainability is being resourceful and being able to work with whatever you've got or is thrown at you, and making that work for you."

That pioneer attitude is nothing but a good thing when it comes to the Amazing Race format.

"We didn't have a clue — they don't tell you anything," said Trapp about the race schedule.

"And it's awesome that way. You have no idea where you are going."

But while the racers are left in the dark, Brunton and his staff want no surprises. They even have backup plans for the backup plans.

"I don't think we have ever done a show that requires so many contingency plans," said Brunton, who added that the prep work is insane for this show.

"You make a mistake on our end and somebody just lost half a million bucks. We often say it's only television - we say that, but on this show it's not only television, it could change somebody's life."

Great leg! Skating looked easier than I would think it is, but maybe that's just cause they're all Canadian. I liked Jamie & Pierre a lot, but I like Jet & Dave and the Tims better, so I didn't mind the outcome.

Slow and steady may not always win the race, but if there’s one thing that the second episode of The Amazing Race Canada proved it’s that the old cliché still has some legs to it as the savvy, self-aware teams managed to one-up their more athletically gifted rivals.Kicking off in Kelowna, B.C., the second leg of the race started with an airport scramble that saw the remaining eight teams jostle for the earliest possible flight to Vancouver. While doctors Brett and Holly, hippies Kristen and Darren and friends Jet and Dave’s early start times got them on the 7 a.m. flight with ease, Body Break’s Hal and Joanne managed to sneak on the earlier plane at the last minute by asking to be put on a standby list — a veteran move that left the younger teams dumbfounded waiting for the later 8:20 a.m. flights.Proving that nothing can beat a well thought out plan, the doctors used their flight to pinpoint exactly where in the airport they would be able to find the Air Canada Lounge (the location of their next clue) in an enRoute magazine. It was a move that seemed almost too easy, yet proved to be one of the small differences in their convincing victory.

Arguably the biggest disappointment of the episode was the early “Roadblock” that saw one member of each team dress up in Spandex and speed skate two laps around the Richmond Olympic Oval in under 90 seconds. While it was a nice homage to the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, the task seemed too simple with most of the teams completing it within the first few tries. Even Brett, who right before taking off admitted he had never been on skates before, finished on his first try despite wiping out a few times.However, where the “Roadblock” left much to be desired, the “Detour’s” difficulty made up for it in spades.When it was announced that the Canadian edition of The Amazing Race would take place across Canada instead of around the world I felt that a key component of the competition was lost. Sure there would be less battles over flights and a lack of exotic scenery, but more important was the fact that contestants wouldn’t have to wrestle with any potential language barriers — an aspect that can instantly turn the tide of the race and level the most lopsided playing field. However, after watching the “Detour,” I can honestly say that what initially looked to be a major flaw in the competitive aspect of the game actually served as a nice reminder as to how multicultural our country really is because there was definitely a language barrier present during this challenge.Taking place in Vancouver’s Chinatown, the “Detour” had teams choose between two tasks. “Draw it” involved drinking a cup of tea, memorizing a Chinese zodiac symbol at the bottom of the tea saucer and redrawing the zodiac symbols from memory with a paint brush, while “Dance it” involved deciphering a list written in Mandarin, finding all of the pieces of a traditional Chinese lion dance costume and perform the accompanying dance.It didn’t come as a shock when most of the teams elected to draw the zodiac symbols, but what did come as a surprise were the number of teams that opted to switch tasks well into the challenge, proving that they had misjudged their perceived strengths and weaknesses. So far in the competition, the patient, self-aware teams have had way more success in the competition and it will be interesting to see of this trend keeps up throughout the course of the season.In the end, the doctors cruised through the second leg of the race and were the first team to make it to the pit stop on the green roof of the Vancouver Convention Centre. Behind them were fan favourites Hal and Joanne and army brothers Jody and Cory.Unfortunately for Alberta fans, the cowboys, who were behind from the start of the episode, showed up to the pit stop last. But in spite of their lackadaisical play — their decision to stop and get money from an ATM at the beginning of the leg set them back nearly three hours and proved too costly to overcome — I found myself sad to see them go.Sure, reality television shows are best remembered for their villains as those characters whose downfall we actively cheer for are at the core of why we watch in the first place. But in true, stereotypical, Canadian fashion, The Amazing Race Canada has accomplished something that very few reality shows have pulled off: form a nine-team cast that consist of likeable, polite and courteous people who have compelling backstories.Power Rankings1) Brett and Holly — They dominated the competition and proved to have the perfect combination of brain and brawn that will be hard to beat going forward.2) Hal and Joanne — Definitely one of the smartest teams in the competition, the undisputed fan favourites look poised to make it far in the race.3) Kristen and Darren — Despite a bit of tension during the “Roadblock” they possess the physical tools and the common sense to dominate most challenges.4) Dave and Jet — My darkhorse pick to win it all. A few avoidable mishaps caused them to slide from third place to seventh, but if they can learn from their mistakes we’ll see them take the competition by storm.5) Jody and Cory — For the team that finished in third, the army brothers haven’t gotten a lot of screen time so far. While they have proven to be fierce competitors we need to see more of them before they can move up in the rankings.6) Tim Sr. and Tim Jr. — Consecutive finishes in the bottom half don’t bode well for the lone father-son team.7) Vanessa and Celina — Despite consecutive fifth place finishes and being extremely entertaining to watch, they just don’t stack up to the rest of the competition.